One advantage you get coming a bit late to this party is you get to see what everyone else has written! And what a nice collection of praise for a man so deserving. I think some of the words that most describe Keith for me are "fun", "adventure" and "challenge". You can almost always be sure that when you participate in an activity with Keith it will be anything but ordinary. More than that it will certainly be a challenge and most importantly, fun.
Keith always describes me as a "polymath", for which I have a definition as "a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas". However I can't imagine any better description for Keith himself. You can get a picture of his abilities by looking further in this blog and it really shows someone who lives his life to the full, and then some. What a person he must be to do an ocean crossing with (and it is one of my regrets that I have not yet done this and I also very much regret not yet giving him the reciprocal experience of taking him gliding) - there have been many stories of learning celestial navigation, orchestral scores and a variety of musical instruments while on such a voyage.
I remember one of my early experiences in sailing being with Keith in a race in Hout Bay and running out of wind in heavy swells threatening to take us ever closer to some ugly looking rocks in the shadow of the sentinel, and then having trouble starting the engine to get out of there! Thank goodness it did after some expert coaxing by Keith since that would have been quite tricky to sail out of. With many more fun experiences and now at Royal Cape, Keith is always a feature in races and sailing events, and now that his yacht has been straightened up it's always so nice to see him getting prizes for his efforts!
But my earlier memories of Keith are through music where, just as in every other field, we're getting involved in something fun and a challenge. You could always be sure that when Keith asks you to perform in something it will be difficult and this brings back memories of the Cape Contemporary Choir where we had to sing the Poulenc Gloria in the South African Museum and other fun memories such as rushing from venue to venue at the Mount Nelson singing Christmas carols for charity. But no musical experience has been more fun or more of an adventure and challenge than at Keith's 70th birthday concert. Firstly what a wonderful inspiration to tick off something like that from one's bucket list at a birthday celebration like that. But for me playing the organ for the Chichester Psalms was certainly the hardest piece of music I've had to perform. This I'm sure was caused by both Keith and I having greater faith in my abilities, causing a compounding effect! But what an honour to have been such an integral part of this celebration and what fun to have been able to play three different instruments in the same concert. And I also remember the generosity of Keith taking the time and working with me through the organ part to get it right - that performance is something I'll always remember and be grateful for such a significant musical challenge.
And now for some of the fun parts of Keith. I remember at the party after his concert a speech given about four C's describing Keith, and a shout from the back that one of those C's must be for Castle Beer! You will regularly see Keith socialising at the yacht club and you could always be sure Keith was up for a beer. I do remember Keith and I valiantly trying to drink an alcohol free beer recently during the break between two performances of Guys and Dolls at Artscape and deciding this just tasted too bad, and being very disciplined in only drinking one beer. I'm sure we always played much better after what became then a more regular (and measured) occurence - I'm sure it was the lack of a beer that caused Keith to decide on a different evening to play a particularly delicate part exactly a semitone below me!
I must admit I've played with Keith in some pretty strange places, such as a dusty barn somewhere near Kraaifontein where the dust caused by prancing horses made playing fairly challenging! Another was in playing in a funeral for a friend of both of ours on the most terrible musical instrument in Observatory and we decided to take turns for each piece of music culminating in a duet. The friend would definitely have enjoyed the fun we were having. Playing in the band at the yacht club is also fun and being able to take over from Keith so he can fetch the aforementioned C - Castle - mid piece!
Keith, the polymath as I can now describe him, is forever interested in all things to do with science - I remember after a trip to see the SALT telescope being built trying to explain some of its capabilities to help us answer whether the universe will continue expanding or eventually contract and its relevance. I think the amount of beer consumed didn't contribute to a very coherent answer!
It is an honour to know Keith and he's had, and will continue to have more influence on my life than he thinks. I'm sure Keith might be slightly embarrassed by this statement and some of the others, but I look forward to him punishing me for that with rather too many beers at the yacht club sometime soon!!
William Whittaker is on the Double Bass
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